Rango

Here’s one of the better CGI animated movies of recent years. Johnny Depp is a chameleon who was raised alone in a terrarium, and he has a rich fantasy life. When he is accidentally released in the desert, he finds his way to the little town of Dirt, where his posturing and lying convince the townsfolk to appoint him Sheriff. It’s all an homage to any number of old westerns—near the end the “Spirit of the West” appears, and he’s Clint Eastwood as the Man With No Name … driving a golf cart! It’s a lot of fun, and doesn’t indulge in the once-every-five-minutes chase sequences we are so used to and (for myself) bored by. And it is surprisingly beautiful, artful, in its textures and camera angles, once more having fun with the styles of directors as different as John Ford and Sergio Leone. Really liked it.